RICHARDSON, John Smythe, a Representative from South Carolina;
born on the Bloomhill plantation, near Sumter, Sumter County, S.C., February 29, 1828;
pursued an academic course in Cokesbury, S.C., and was graduated from South Carolina College (now the University of South Carolina) at Columbia in 1850;
studied law;
was admitted to the bar in 1852 and began practice in Sumter, S.C.;
during the Civil War entered the Confederate Army as a captain of Infantry;
later promoted to adjutant of the Twenty-third Regiment, South Carolina Infantry, and served until the close of the war in 1865;
member of the State house of representatives 1865-1867;
appointed agent of the State of South Carolina in 1866 to apply for and receive the land script donated to South Carolina by Congress;
delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1876;
elected as a Democrat to the Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh Congresses (March 4, 1879-March 3, 1883);
master in equity for Sumter County 1884-1893;
died at his country home, Shadyside, near Sumter, S.C., February 24, 1894;
interment in Sumter Cemetery.